It has just been announced that Massachusetts Governor Duval Patrick will not appoint a permanent replacement for the late Senator Ted Kennedy. An election has been scheduled for January 19th of next year replace the late Senator.

This, of course, could have national implications. However, there is discussion to have a temporary “fill-in” which would preserve the U.S. Senate’s ability to block a Republican filibuster. More details forthcoming.

For me, pretty much the last straw at the funeral of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy was certainly a familiar tactic: when all else fails, shove a moppet on stage, give him or her a script, and let the adorable tyke lisp the syllables that would never be countenanced coming from an adult. So they dragged up a grandson and gave him a script which if it had been placed as an advertisement, would have cost at least several hundred thousand dollars…

This in itself is nothing new–in fact it seems to be a staple from the Liberal Playbook. Remember little Julia Hall from President Obama’s Portsmouth, NH town hall meeting?

And if you want stage-managed moppets galore, you can’t go wrong with those cloying Stepford Children:

And who can forget the winner from 2007, Graeme Frost, who was planted in front of cameras and microphones to pimp that year’s cause du jour, the ever-expanding S-CHIP legislation.

“My parents work really hard and always make sure my sister and I have everything we need, but the hospital bills were huge. We got the help we needed because we had health insurance for us through the CHIP program.

“But there are millions of kids out there who don’t have CHIP, and they wouldn’t get the care that my sister and I did if they got hurt. Their parents might have to sell their cars or their houses, or they might not be able to pay for hospital bills at all…

“I don’t know why President Bush wants to stop kids who really need help from getting CHIP. All I know is I have some really good doctors. They took great care of me when I was sick, and I’m glad I could see them because of the Children’s Health Program.

“I just hope the President will listen to my story and help other kids to be as lucky as me. This is Graeme Frost, and this has been the Weekly Democratic Radio address. Thanks for listening.”

And more kiddies threatening President Bush with a moratorium on photo ops if he vetoed the bill. Boo hoo!

Then going way back to 2006, more kids sticking to The Man (in the Oval Office).

Oh, the agony! When will it all end? Frankly, it’s disgusting, and as a political tactic, it stinks; but it also tells you a lot about the parents who allow (and even encourage) their kids to be used in this manner. Perhaps it’s just the next logical iteration of the brassy stage mother syndrome: the pushy political parent.

And you can’t really blame the kids, can you? After all, they’re just tools in the hands of their parents, who are also, er, tools.

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s daughter behaved in a manner throroughly Kennedyesque to the crowds of people who lined the streets of Boston last Thursday in a token of respect for her great uncle, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Ms. Schlossberg had her own gesture of respect for the hoi polloi.

A photographer for FOX 25 in Boston seemingly caught 21-year-old Rose Schlossberg, the daughter of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, giving the finger to someone off camera as she rode in a limousine.

The photo ain’t pretty, but it tells you all you need to know.

There’s video at the link, if you really need to see her in action.We don’t know what provoked that response, but Ms. Schlossberg should be better aware than most that cameras are everywhere.

UPDATE:HotAir points out an egregious Harry Reid gaffe. If he keeps putting his foot in his mouth like this, Tark’s sure to be a shoo-in!

We’ve gotten some great response to my post on Hugh Hewitt’s “$10 for Tark” plan to stop Harry Reid from shoving the ObamaCare bill down our throats by voting Harry out of office in 2010. Many thanks to all of you who have commented, donated, and emailed. I got a very nice note back from Mr. Tarkanian yesterday, in which he wrote:

What you have started through your support is a movement – a movement to bring conservative values back to our country and to rid ourselves of centralized, socialized control of every aspect of our society. This is the America Harry Reid wants, and it is our responsibility to stop him.

Reid wants a public option that puts government in control of your health care. He wants the taxpayers to fund government bailouts of entire industries so that the government can hire and fire CEO’s. He is the principal architect of Washington’s plan to indebt you, your children, and your grandchildren to his big government plans to the extent of $9 trillion dollars this decade alone….

We are at a crossroads of history, and our very freedom as Americans is at stake. Your contributions are a sign that you are willing to join this epic battle against Senator Reid and what he stands for. And I am ready and willing to lead.

…We are rallying the nation to our cause. I am deeply grateful that you are with us.

Please take a few moments to share our original “Ten Dollars for Tark” post with your friends, and encourage them to donate and communicate. Ten dollars is a pittance; if Harry Reid gets the ObamaCare bill passed, ten dollars is going to be the least of our worries. Ten dollars from their wallets–two Starbucks’ Espresso Frappuchinos; ten minutes of their time–about the same amount of time as loading the dishwasher!

Whether you loved Senator Ted Kennedy or not, we all must admit he had a profound effect on American politics and his passing is a big event. We recognized that and we have responded with respect to the news of his passing. However, the left-wing barking moonbat brigade just don’t get it.

Showing all the class of a Bill Maher/Jeanene Garbagefelo discussion about tea party protesters, Senator Kennedy’s death had barely been announced when suddenly ObamaCare became TeddyCare or something like it. With no thought whatsoever for the reverence of the Senator’s passing, they quickly jockeyed into position to wrap their health plan with the Senator’s corpse in hopes it would somehow bring life back to Obamacare. Suddenly we were urged to pass this healthcare program immediately as a tribute to Kennedy.

Sorry, folks, but in my opinion this takes pandering to a new low and at an extraordinarily inapporpriate moment.

Believe it or not, it gets worse: When I got the news that Ted Kennedy had succumbed to brain cancer earlier this week, thousands of thoughts about his life and the way he lived it swirled through my head. But out of respect for the Kennedy family, my posting of his death was brief and respectful, as it should be. I knew enough that at times like this you take the high road.

But Melissa Lafsky, writing at the Huffington Post, isn’t worried too much about the altitude of the road. In her remembrance of Senator Kennedy, she poses the question, “What Would Mary Jo Kopechne Have Thought Of Ted’s Career?”

No, you didn’t misread this.

The gist of what Ms. Lafsky, a former lawyer, was getting at was that somehow she feels it was the death of Mary Jo that was “a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history.”

Is her logic such that she assumes Kennedy would have automatically ascended to the White House had he not left Mary Jo to drown in the back of his Oldsmobile? Darn the luck!

Kopechne

The irony here is that of all the people whose opinions you could seek, Ms. Lafsky, you choose the one person who can’t make herself available because of what happened on Chappaquiddick Island, July 18th, 1969. Bummer, huh?

This is not unlike when Sirhan Sirhan came up for parole for the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. He told the parole board he believed that if Robert Kennedy were alive today, he would want them to free him. Say… was that you representing Mr. Sirhan?

Ms. Lafsky actually had the chutzpah to end her article with these words about how Mary Jo Kopechne might see her death and the role it played in Senator Kennedy’s Senate career:

“Who knows — maybe she’d feel it was worth it.”

Wow, Ms. Lafsky. Just wow…

As for your timing, well let me put it like this: Grand Rants (and just about anyone with a sense of decency and a modicum of class) chose the high road upon Senator Kennedy’s death. Your road choice was about as bad as Senator Kennedy’s on that night 40 years ago.

Now can we all please just postpone any further ridiculous speculations and let those who mourn Senator Kennedy’s passing have their moment?

I can’t imagine how I missed this Bill Whittle video from a few months ago, but as usual, he is spot on in his assessments:

Interestingly, about a week after that disastrous Susan Roesgen interview and its follow-up got splashed all over the news (finally!), Ms. Roesgen decided to take a break from her job. She might have called it “taking a break,” however CNN decided to call it non-renewal of her contract.

One wonders what would have happened had the follow-up “amateur” video not been released…